Serving beer from a keg using C02. Possibles cons?

[Elysium]

I am reading an article on draft beer and this is what I found:
"In summary, if the right qualified individual adjusts the CO2 pressure for each beer properly, and if the temperature of the beer never changes more than plus or minus 4 degrees, using CO2 is O.K.. In reality I do not recommend using plain CO2 to dispense beer, especially with long lines. There are too many things that can and will go wrong. Beer is far too expensive to waste. "

Shall I pay much attention to this? Or my beer in a kegerator that maintains constant temp and with a gas cylinder, will be just fine?

 

[Queequeg]

I think that article is referring to pubs. Even so the alternative is cask conditioning which is even more prone to problems.

 

[Psylocide]

I wouldn't pay attention to that at all, since 99.2% of the people that keg their homebrew are carbing/pushing with CO2.

The biggest con is that it's way easier to drink and your kegs dry up super fast.

 

[jekeane]

I too think the author is referring to bars and really long lines. If you keep your setup uniform on a homebrew scale you will have minimal problems. I run up to 10 ball lock kegs off a 5lb co2 tank with a single output regulator. All my lines are 10' and sit coiled on to of my kegs. All my liquid fittings have the same dimensions.

Recently I needed to change out a line all I had on hand was a smaller inner diameter line with smaller fittings. Doing this through my whole system outta balance.

There certainly are styles that would benefit from different levels of carbonation and looking into a secondary regulator for those can be benifical.

 

[Homercidal]

I'd be curious to know where that article comes from.

It's true that there are things that can go wrong, and it's sometimes a bit of work to get a system balanced, but it rarely detracts from the experience of drink beer. With a little bit of reading, proper initial maintenance, and maybe a bit of adjustment, pouring from kegs is awesome! Once it's set up, it's hardly any work at all.

The biggest advantage to me is the fact that I can pour a half-glass right after work to wash down a snack without having to open a whole bottle and let half of it go stale. I can pour as much as I want before bed without the same issue or drinking too much right before bed. Or I can pour a big glass of fresh beer to take outside while I'm working/playing.

You'll love it.

 

[IslandLizard]

For long lines using beer gas, e.g., 75% CO2, 25% Nitrogen, is recommended. The actual mixture ratio may vary, depending on preference or intended use.

 

[Elysium]

I'd be curious to know where that article comes from.

http://waylandworks.com/draftbeer.htm

 

[Homercidal]

http://waylandworks.com/draftbeer.htm

Yes, I believe the warning you posted were from the "Retailers" section of the guide.

The homebrewer section is very detailed and does contain the various considerations homebrewers have with Co2 systems, but the reality is that most of them are avoided if your kegs are maintained properly (mostly having good O-rings and no leaks) and the pressure/temp/line length is balanced for the beer style. It's not hard.

Sometimes you can overcarb a beer and cause foaming, or serving too warm for the pressure or line length, but those are seldom and generally not a concern after you use the system for a while and understand a few basic tenets of kegging.

 

[BigFloyd]

Every kegging homebrewer I know of uses CO2 in their system unless they're running a foamer faucet for nitro stout (which works better with a higher pressure and 70/30 beer gas).

It's really not that hard to successfully carb/dispense beer with CO2. The most basic way is to keep the beer at 38*F, set the pressure to 12psi, let it carb a couple of weeks, use 12ft 3/16" beer line (which you can trim back a bit for more head if desired). Get quality (Perlick) faucets.

 

[MattyIce]

I'd be curious to know where that article comes from.

It's true that there are things that can go wrong, and it's sometimes a bit of work to get a system balanced, but it rarely detracts from the experience of drink beer. With a little bit of reading, proper initial maintenance, and maybe a bit of adjustment, pouring from kegs is awesome! Once it's set up, it's hardly any work at all.

The biggest advantage to me is the fact that I can pour a half-glass right after work to wash down a snack without having to open a whole bottle and let half of it go stale. I can pour as much as I want before bed without the same issue or drinking too much right before bed. Or I can pour a big glass of fresh beer to take outside while I'm working/playing.

You'll love it.

Agreed on the portion control. Nothing like being able to pour just a couple ounces for a sample. This is especially true if you've got a big beer on tap. Sometimes I just want a couple sips of that 13% barleywine! In the same breath, it is also less work if you are on a mission.